Team behind Words with Friends raises $46 million for new gaming venture on Polygon

Quick Take

  • Gaming project Wildcard Alliance raised $46 million in a Series A round. 
  • The round was led by Paradigm with additional support from Griffin Gaming Partners, Polygon, and Sabrina Hahn.

The Wildcard Alliance, a new gaming studio focused on interactive entertainment, has raised $46 million in Series A funding round.

The deal was led by Paradigm, with support from Griffin Gaming Partners, Polygon, and Sabrina Hahn.  

Wildcard is a “hybrid multiplayer online battle arena” and also a collectible card game where players compete live in front of fans who can interact with the game, describes a statement from the company.

Wildcard Alliance is a subsidiary of independent game studio Playful Studios based in Texas. The game is co-created by married couple Katy Drake Bettner and Paul Bettner. Paul Bettner previously worked on popular game “Words with Friends” and early VR game Lucky’s Tale.

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“Despite this opportunity, the current focus of web3 game development tends to be on finance over fun, economy over engagement, currency over community," said Bettner. "With Wildcard, we’re focused on fun first, building a next-generation ‘spectator sport’ to welcome the entire community of competitors, collectors, sponsors, and fans to play together.”

Paradigm, which has made investments in influential web3 companies like Coinbase, FTX, and OpenSea, believes that “interactive entertainment will be a primary driver of growth in web3,” according to a statement.

The venture is the latest example of veterans of the traditional gaming sector pushing into web3. Last year, Justin Kan, the co-founder of the video game livestreaming service Twitch, and other gaming industry entrepreneurs launched a Solana-based marketplace designed for gaming non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called Fractal.


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About Author

Anushree covers how U.S. businesses and corporations are moving into crypto. She has written about business and tech for Bloomberg, Newsweek, Insider, and others. Reach out on Twitter @anu__dave